Pictured above: Nikki Cheng '22 of the Mount Holyoke Tennis team. Image courtesy of Mount Holyoke College Athletics.
By Gigi Picard ‘22
Sports Editor
Mount Holyoke Tennis is the first spring 2021 Team of the Week. While the team typically competes from September to April, their season got cut short in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the Lyons with a 2-3 record. During the fall of 2019, the team was able to compete in the Tennis Hall of Fame Invitational, ITA New England Regionals and the NEWITT Tournament.
Aldo Santiago has led the team as head coach for 28 seasons, with Eric Cestero serving as assistant coach. Santiago said that the team collectively meets on Zoom at least once per week to talk about setting goals and building character under basketball Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success: a diagram identifying the many traits that define a successful person. Additionally, the team does workouts with the guidance of the United States Tennis Association and Volt, an app which Mount Holyoke Athletics shares with almost all varsity teams.
Hannah Middleton ’22, who took on major leadership roles for Mount Holyoke Tennis this year, shared about the experience of being an off-campus student athlete.
In the fall, Tennis attempted weekly team bonding activities that involved movie nights, which had to be scheduled around the variety of time zones students lived in.
Middleton said, “I thought it was a nice relaxing way to end the week and to see my teammates, and for some people, it was a good way to be with the team but also … still be able to do homework.”
During winter break, the team coordinated more activities such as online games and virtual hang-outs, since school was temporarily out of session.
“Going into a spring season with no promise of competition kind of puts a damper on the atmosphere because it’s one thing to practice just for the sake of practicing, but it’s a totally different thing to practice for an upcoming match,” Middleton said.
Middleton herself misses the team’s annual spring trips, which valued team bonding and playing those they normally wouldn’t play in their regular season.
Tennis has added two first-year players to the roster, both of whom are staying connected with the team virtually during the 2020-2021 school year.
The next team of the week will be Mount Holyoke Rowing.